C-Rod: 'I Still Love Alex'

Cynthia Rodriguez says that she still loves her cheating husband A-Rod, but that she had to leave him to prove she is not weak.

She told the New York Post that she walked out because the Yankee's star arrogantly thought she would stand by him through his infidelities -- and she was sick of being taken for granted.

But, while she said she will never go back to him, Cynthia promised she will still be there for Alex as a friend to pick up the pieces when he "cracks up".

C-Rod walked out on the All Star third-baseman last week after the rumor broke that he was having yet another affair -- this time with Madonna.

Although Madonna has denied the affair, Cynthia filed divorce papers just days later.

Now she has told the newspaper that she made the heart-wrenching decision to leave her husband of seven years because he believed the marriage would never collapse, no matter what he did to hurt her -- that he mistook "13 years of dedication for weakness."

She also said that she has to face up to the fact that A-Rod has been warped b super-stardom and that he is no longer the man she fell in love with.

But she says that one day he will come crashing back down to reality -- and that it "will be an ugly thing" when it happens.

Cynthia has told her close friends that she will be there for him as a friend when he eventually does "crack up", because she can use her skills as a psychologist to help the father of her two children, Natasha, 3, and Ella, who is 11 weeks old.

She also admitted that her family is distraught about the split. "Mine's a close-knit family," she said, "Never one one divorce on my side. My parents, aunts and uncles are devastated."